Shrouded Valley
Research Connell did the research before returning to the Fens of Despair and found out the following: # There are 3 major goblin tribes living in the Valley: the Bearclaws, the Red Runes, and Rockbreakers. The Bearclaws control the main gate; the Rockbreakers hold the old dwarven mines, and the Red Runes have most of the land between. # All 3 tribes are constantly feuding, uniting only against outsiders. An orc warlord, Skullbreaker Red, is uniting them under his personal leadership, but there would open warfare if he died. # Skullbreaker travels constantly among the three groups, with a relatively small entourage. He rides a black, mutant boar and wears a mithril helm. Sponsors and Patrons Preparations Connell bought a bunch of glow vials. Objectives Summaries ;Memorable Quotes ;Combined Statistics Session 1 ;First Session Statistics ;First Session Chat Log The delvers return the sacred regalia of the Lady of Spring to the Druid Grove in the Fens of Despair. Then they set out for the nearby Shrouded Valley. As they approach the Valley, they ambush a band of ogres torturing a group of leprechauns. The delvers rescue the leprechauns and discover they were headed to the Valley to recover their ancestral family gold. Session 2 ;Second Session Statistics ;Second Session Chat Log The delvers successfully negotiate a half share of the leprechauns' gold in exchange for recovering the treasure. Then they scout their way to the walls of the Shrouded Valley. As they sneak forward onto set up their assault, Richard is spotted and the goblin defenders begin their defense. Session 3 ;Third Session Statistics ;Third Session Chat Log The delvers begin a surprised and uncoordinated assault on the wall. Richard is knocked out of the sky by meteoric iron arrows, but Mrugnak and Ayake managed to clear the tops of their towers. The remaining defenders are in retreat, disorganized and wounded. Session 4 ;Fourth Session Statistics ;Fourth Session Chat Log The defenders stage a surprisingly rally, as the goblin engineers briefly overwhelm Mrugnak and the wounded ogres return after drinking healing potions. Ayake and Richard murder the last defenders of the west tower, but the forces on the east tower turn out to be surprisingly resilient. Meanwhile, sentries from the wall begin to flee, raising the alarm. Session 5 ;Fifth Session Statistics ;Fifth Session Chat Log The weight of numbers is finally against the defenders of the east building, as Ayake and Richard join Connell and Mrugnak against them. A few goblins inside the building put up a brief and ineffectual fight, and the delvers find themselves in complete possession of the gates as the entire alerted military of the Shrouded Valley organizes against them. The delvers slip away to the west, hoping to hide in a nearby goblin village. They are pursued by wolf-riders, but Berkun and Ayake force the goblins to keep their distance. As the session ends, the delvers have recovered their breaths, and are preparing to attack the nearest goblin reinforcements. Session 6 ;Sixth Session Statistics ;Sixth Session Chat Log Richard casually destroys the nearest thirty or forty strong company of goblins with high powered Explosive arrows. The next two companies, each larger, advance in a very loose order. Richard picks off their archers as Mrugnak, Connell, and Ayake charge in. The delvers bog down trying to kill the ogres, which the goblins hurried charge forward, trying to regroup. Session 7 ;Seventh Session Statistics ;Seventh Session Chat Log Ayake finishes off his ogre in time to be surrounded by dozens of goblins, which he destroys through liberal uses of the shockwave power. Mrugnak and Connell dispatch more ogres and goblins on their own. A few ogres charge past the front line and manage to survive Berkun's attacks long enough to near him, but in general it is obvious that the delvers are defeating this wave of greenskins. Sessions 8 and 9 ;Eighth and Ninth Sessions Statistics ;Eighth and Ninth Sessions Chat Log :Technical Note: The eight session ended very early due to connection problems on the GM side, so these logs are merged together here. The ogres charge into Berkun, only to be evaded and downed by close in archery fire. The last of the 3 ogres to make it past the melee line is then caught in a cross fire by Richard and Berkun, set on fire, and killed. To the south, Ayake briefly finds himself at the convergence of multiple ogres. He throws one to the ground and kills it as Mrugnak and Connell move to the rescue. Even farther to the south, the foxman paladin Cid SilverWing is teleported in via hostile magic. He holds his own against a goblin warband, but an ogre blindsides him, knocks him over, and begins chopping into his back. The ogre's triumph is brief, as Ayake, Berkun, Connell, and Mrugnak all hit him at about the same time. Connell and Richard work to revive Cid and the delvers briefly chat. At the end of the session, the violence is over, but they can see the next wave of orc knights on foot and mounted approaching in the distance. Session 10 ;Tenth Sessions Statistics ;Tenth Sessions Chat Log The delvers fall back to the village, hoping to minimize the effect of the cavalry's horses. Then they hunker down, resting until the next wave. The orcs rapidly advance, the cavalry swinging wide to attack from the northeast while the infantry advances uphill from the south. The delvers waited until the infantry approached to within 60 yards before attacking. Richard dispersed 20 of them with a massive Explode arrow, but was attacked by a flying goblin mage. The two proceeded to duel with spells and meteoric iron arrows. Connell and Mrugnak fought side by side against a half dozen ogres, sending them back, while Ayake used his chi powers to incapacitate another 40 foot knights. Cid charged in against a score of enemy knights, got surrounded by another band, and beaten to the ground. Meanwhile, on the north side, Berkun tried to destroy the cavalry with his bow. At the end of the session, Ayake is facing off against 20 orc knights, while another 20 menace Cid. Connell is attacking them from behind, and Mrugnak is readying healing potions to revive his wounded allies. Richard is planning to aid his allies against the infantry to the south and hoping that Berkun will deal with the goblin mage. The orc cavalry has arrived at the village and may run Berkun down first. Session 11 ;Eleventh Sessions Statistics ;Eleventh Sessions Chat Log The delvers engage the knights in waves, slowly overwhelming them. Berkun dodges the worst of the cavalry attacks and takes cover in a building until they flee, while Richard and Ayake rain down all kinds of weird energies on the others. A few lucky hits badly savage Ayake and Connell, but the delvers hold together to drive off the knights. Session 12 ;Twelfth Sessions Statistics ;Twelfth Sessions Chat Log Having been mostly defeated, the goblin army abandons their castle, leaving behind only a token rear guard. The delvers rest briefly and then resume their assault. After a brief scout by Connell in Lightning Falcon form, they land on the north wall and force their way into the keep. The door they forced open was trapped with poisonous gas spores. Behind it, the high command of the greenskin army is waiting. Mrugnak is attacked by multiple ogres while a goblin assassin attacks Richard from behind. Berkun wounds the assassin in turn and Ayake ignites the ogre champion before squaring off against an orc myrmidon. Connell flies in, seeking to disable the orc master bowman before he pinpricks Mrugnak to death. Ogre reinforcements start charging Berkun and Richard from the west. Session 13 ;Thirteenth Sessions Statistics ;Thirteenth Sessions Chat Log The fight between the delvers and the greenskins shifts back and forth. Ayake is dropped by the orc champion, but Richard and Berkun combine to finish off the goblin assassin. The ogre hero collapses from his wounds, and Mrugnak effortlessly deals with the other ogres inside the keep. Sadly for him, the goblin wizard almost succeeds in charming him to attack the party, and the pain of resisting the attack causes the minotaur to go berserk! At the end of the session, Berkun, Cid, and Richard are hoping to defeat the orc champion before more ogres arrive, while Connell tends to Ayake and Mrugnak faces off against the greenskin wizards and archer. Session 14 ;Fourteenth Sessions Statistics ;Fourteenth Sessions Chat Log The fight continued as warriors on both sides are taken out. Mrugnak lost an eye to orcish archery, but proceeded to kill the warlord and the goblin wizard before returning and chasing the archer. Connell turned into a watery boa constrictor and chased down the orc wizard, choking him into unconsciousness. Richard and Berkun dueled against the orcish archer and champion, resulting in severe wounds to the orcs and Richard retreating into the sky. Cid briefly forced some of the demonic orcs to retreat through the Power of the Light, but the wannabe Ogre hero Blok pounded into him and eventually cut off his head. At the end of the session, Berkun was retreating from the orc hero while the orc archer was hoping to take out Mrugnak's other eye before the enraged minotaur killed him. Connell was playing dead to avoid Mrugnak's wrath and Richard was floating into the sky. Session 15 ;Fifteenth Sessions Statistics ;Fifteenth Sessions Chat Log The orc archer missed Mrugnak with his last desperate shot, and Richard burned away his bow. Mrugnak proceeded to kill him while Berkun and Richard finished off the champion. Mrugnak charged after Richard with intent to kill, but tripped over Cid's body. Richard and Berkun finished off Brok, avenging the paladin, then Berkun played toreador with Mrugnak while Richard prepared a Daze spell. The magic stopped the minotaur's rage and he collapsed. The delvers then quickly gathered up some loot from around them and fled the Shrouded Valley.